Haworth Tompkins have taken part in a virtual event with The Social Mobility Foundation about COVID and the Built Environment. Several studio members gave presentations on various aspects of our work over the past eighteen months. Nick Royce spoke about HT; our structure and how we use working groups to improve the way we function, design and respond to challenges.
Deeksha Audukoori, Diana Al-laham and Sian Bahia highlighted their differing routes to working at the practice, covering various subjects including school and university projects, applying for jobs and now working remotely. Alex Cox related the practice’s record on reacting to the climate emergency, alongside focusing on three of our in progress projects, and how they have been changed by the pandemic.
Nick and Alex then led two workshops looking at the ways in which we could improve the pandemic resilience of two of our built projects; Silchester and the Bridge Theatre. Students contributed ideas to a live mark-up of a set of drawings considering how the buildings were already suited to various pandemic safety criteria, such as the presence of open spaces and natural ventilation. Improvements were then suggested as to how the buildings could be future proofed, with space for working from home and social distancing measures in place.
Neptune Wharf at Fish Island Village has won a Housing Design Award at this year's ceremony. The project for Peabody and Hill is a 25% affordable scheme of over 500 homes with 5,550 sqm of commercial space, nine blocks of which are workspace facilities being delivered by The Trampery as a campus for sustainable fashion businesses. All the homes are now occupied, with businesses moving in to the maker spaces later this year.
Industria, our innovative, stacked industrial development for Be First in Barking, is part of an exhibition opening tomorrow in central London. Engineers Create, is a collection of recent research and projects by Engineering Club members which includes models, drawings, sketches, prototypes and other examples of the creativity within the sector. Industria Open from 22 September until 1 October at the Crypt Gallery at St Pancras Church, the exhibition is open 10-6 and free to visit.
Haworth Tompkins has been shortlisted in two categories at the New London Architecture Awards. Albert Island, our project for London + Regional is in contention for 'Masterplans and Area Strategies' which looks at new and improved parts of the city, intentionally designed to create destinations offering a mixture of uses and activities. Theatre Royal Drury Lane, our major restoration for LW Theatres, is shortlisted in the 'Culture' category, celebrating projects which improve the cultural experience for both local residents and international visitors. Winners will be announced on 29 November. Every shortlisted project is also in the running for the People's Choice award, click here to vote for your favourite.
The Old Vic has embarked on a major programme of investment and renewal to sustain and modernise the Grade II* listed 203-year-old theatre as a creative hub and community resource for the next generation by building The Annex, a five-storey extension, to be completed in 2024. Sustainability has formed an integral part of the design proposals and salvaged materials have been incorporated from the start. The intent for the extension facade is to repurpose theatre barndoors, sourced from performing arts venues around the UK and we need your help to collect 240 of them. More details on the specifications, and how to get them to the theatre can be found here.
There are architect led tours at three of our projects this September, as part of the Open House Festival. Associate Pa trick Quinn will be taking groups around Kingston School of Art on Tuesday 13th. On Saturday 17th, architect Annecy Attlee will show people around Silchester Estate, our housing project for Peabody in west London. Finally on Tuesday 20th, Associate Director Ken Okonkwo will lead a tour of Fish Island Village alongside Pitman Tozer, Lyndon Goode and Bureau de Change, our collaborators on this scheme. Please book all these tours via the Open House website.
This summer we hosted 14 students for week-long work experience placements at our Kentish Town studio, supported by a group of Part I mentors. The programme aims to offer students an idea of what being an architect involves through a mini creative project - researching and designing their own version of our Dovecote Studio, using modelmaking, hand drawings and digital packages. The weeks were supplemented with site visits and meetings, and all concluded with informal crits in which they presented their work and discussed routes to careers in architecture.
Theatre Royal Drury Lane has won a Chicago Athenaeum International Architecture Award. The awards, in their 19th year and presented in conjunction with The European Center for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies, and Metropolitan Arts Press, are dedicated to the recognition of excellence in architecture and urbanism from a global perspective. The winners will be taking part in an exhibition, 'The City and the World', in Athens from September.
Our mixed-use proposal for the London Borough of Newham has been submitted for planning. The site on Freemasons Way comes forward as one of two ‘kick starter’ sites for the larger masterplan for Custom House, a Council led co-design project with Adam Khan Architects and East, which will provide 800-900 new homes, a health hub, community facilities and improved public realm. Our building features shops on the ground floor, opening onto a new public space along the high street set beneath existing mature trees. All of the 29 homes will be for social rent, including a mixture of one, two and three-bedroom apartments with access to a generous communal garden. The homes are being designed to Passivhaus standards, with start on site targeted for Spring 2023.